Apple
by xXFlickerFlyXx
Summary: Just an AU drabble set. The original chapter was inspired by the first theme for the 100-theme challenge, and I got an idea for the next one. I put it here, because why not? Often Chelley, but really just whatever I feel like writing. Bad summary.
1. Introduction

There was a panel in the middle of the wheat field. A pure, black, rectangular panel, just replacing the ground where it lay, no wheat- her mind wanted to shy away from the word, but Chell wouldn't let it- crushed beneath it, not even at a different level to everything else. But, it stuck out.

She almost stepped on it, but the sheer shock of seeing something _so different _made her stumble back. She knelt down, unsure if this was it, this was _reality_, or... she brushed her fingers against it, and shivered. The _same texture_.

Not only that, but it retreated for a moment, as if it- _he _were nervous of the touch. She glanced at it, amused-terrified- _curiosity killed the cat_- but couldn't resist the temptation to stand up, and slowly... step onto the panel.

She was instantly seized by the feeling that there was a great empty space below her. And a _voice_- she froze.

"Oh... hello." A chuckle. "You look _terrible_." _Oh no. No. No no no no no. Not... _You_..._

"I never actually thought you'd _come back_." A pause. "It wasn't because of me, was it? You're not happy about this. Didn't want to see poor old Wheatley again. Not even after I let you go." Other tones crept into his voice- mostly bitterness. "I didn't stop the lift _that _time, did I? And you can't even be thankful about it. I even fixed the reactor core..."

She shifted slightly- it took all her strength to do it, at the time- _Something like this was bound to happen eventually. Should have never let him let me _leave_._

"Oh yeah, you're still not happy with me. Fine." He waited, and she did too, puzzled. And then she spotted... the ground around her, in quite a large radius, crumbled away. Into the abyss... "Bet you didn't know how much of this place was supported by the facility, huh?"

She startled, understandably, trying desperately not to process the situation she was in. _No... _"Please..." How could something practically all-powerful sound so desperate? "Come back with me, okay? Weren't things great back then? Are you..."

He shifted into something that was practically a _scream_. "Are you going to just _leave me here_? Huh? all alone, for the rest of eternity, sure, that sounds like the perfect situation to put me in! You-you were just using me to escape, the whole time!"

And back to a pleading, quiet tone."Just for a while..." The panel started to lower slowly. "I'll need to get you some of those boots again."

After a few minutes, he spoke again, this time sounding much less... human.

"_Apple._"

Yes, I wrote another random drabble. I got the idea because I was thinking about doing the 100 oneshot challenge (this being for "1. Introduction." Yes, I got slightly sidetracked.) But figured I'm already writing something and I'm kinda horrible with personal projects. Also, it would be hard once school started again. I might still continue with the list, though, but not dependably. Also, I'm continuing the tradition of having a lot of "..."'s, I guess. 14 in this.

Also, I wrote this while listening to "All I Ever Wanted" by Basshunter, for some reason. I thought that was interesting.

[/authorsnote]


	2. Love

"Sorry about the lift, it, uh... it melted."

The test subject (He refused to think of her as anything else) looked slightly quizzical underneath her usual expression, and He shifted His inner chassis a little, self-conscious. _Well, it did! _He turned the beam on, and watched her- Maybe... maybe it was better to think of her as an it? He shrugged. _Whatever_.

He kept on talking as he thought, not really paying attention. _Maybe I should thank her, somehow. She was _testing _quite well. _He glared at himself through the cameras. _No, horrible idea. Haven't You learned? Civility doesn't motivate her. _She continued, carefully, unhappily efficient.

"And, to your right, something huge, _hurtling _towards y- Ohgodrun! That's not supposed to be there!"

_Don'tgethurtdon'tgethurt... _He understood that that was _not _what he should be thinking, at this moment. But maybe He'd been focusing a little too much on the slightly-deadened feel of her feet on the panels these last few test chambers. Maybe that was why He panicked like this, when she was threatened by something other than _Him_. He scrambled for a way to stop it...

"Are you okay?"

Suddenly, that beam... reminded him of something. What he'd planned to do, if he ever had to kill her... it involved a beam. He even had the false test chamber set up... _How _could he have set up the perfect way to kill her!? He didn't even... want to...

"Here, I'll turn the beam off."

Yeah, I know I said I wouldn't continue this any time soon. Who cares?


	3. Light

"Ohno."

hhHe stared at the elevator shaft for a moment, barely even thinking. _I... can't believe I did that to you. _And- for a moment- stress, something like that- all the lights in the facility went out. He blinked, somehow calmed.

He dared to spread His reach farther through the facility, hoping that the lack of sight would negate the information overload. It... helped. A little.

A ray of sunlight was coming from the ceiling, in one spot. He lifted a panel, 'catching' it, vaguely realising that He hadn't decided to do anything. And, it was stupid, but... He'd never seen purely natural light before. And it was... beautiful.

He shook the idea away, scolding Himself. _Have to find her._

"WHAT THE-" He had no idea what was going on, not right now, the cores were still whispering ideas in His mind and- but some part of Him knew that this was the last time He'd ever see anything like this, _ever_, and... moonlight. Darting shadows. _Fire!_

_SPACE!_

I promise the next thing I write will be a part of my other fic. Y'know, the one that has a plot and 20 chapters. This is the shortest thing ever -_-.


	4. Dark

I officially have no real idea.

_Space._

That was really all there was to say on the matter. Darkness, peppered with stars. Another core, and their voice.

That was all.

...

Space Core (Wheatley had asked him his name once, to no avail) would follow, somehow manuevering himself with no handholds and no visible engine. He always thought Space would just swoop off one day, leaving him there, but they never would. They weren't very good company, but it was a nice gesture anyway.

Space squealed suddenly, painfully loud, and Wheatley's optic snapped open. He darted around nervously, optic blank. _"Can't see. Can't see space. Can't see. Ba-ba-b-b-b." _Space core twitched and fell still.

"Are you okay?"

_"Still can't see. Are we in space? Where are we? Is it space?" _Something in the excitable, modulated voice caught his attention. Familiar...

"Cu-Curiosity!?"

_"What's curiosity? Is that a name? Is curiosity a good thing? Where are we going? Why can't I see?"_ The voice shifted further into _her_ voice, and-

He sounded oddly strangled, even to himself. "I don't kn-know. I... missed you."

_"Space?"_

"Wait! No! Please!"

_"__What's the problem? _Will I see you later? Can you fix me?"

...

_"I love y-y-ou-ouuuuu..."_

"...I love you too." Curiosity/Space fell silent.

...

That was all.


	5. Seeking Solace

Maybe she really was brain-damaged, she thought. Maybe that was why she came back. Because of course, that was the only reason she ever came back. Why come back even when you were constantly telling yourself that nothing was orbiting around the moon, and how even if there was she certainly hadn't ever met them, and it wasn't like they'd betrayed her, and it wasn't indirectly her fault?

Somehow, telling herself that was always just a little bit harder than denying what was under her feet at this very moment, or the fact that if she chopped down the door to the hut she was resolutely staring at she would find an elevator shaft, or that the concept of Sci- science, just science, had been slowly growing on her ever since she first woke up, or that a particular word about openings between different areas had any particular meaning to her.

It was just a little bit stupid of her, she'd think, at times that weren't right now, because if she started down that line of thinking she would start being _logical_. And standing by a place that reminded her of one of her greatest regrets, holding a mangled pen and a hunk of pine bark, in the middle of the night, probably wasn't the most logical thing in the world.

Chell grimaced, looked down, and scrawled something- she wasn't sure herself what she meant to write- with the pen. She looked up at the moon for the first time this night, threw it as high as she possibly could, and sprinted in the opposite direction, trying to imagine that she couldn't hear it hitting the ground.

"IM SO SORRY."

She kept running. _I just have to get away from-_

Something smooth caught her ankle, and she tripped. _"I'll consider it."_ And the only thing she could think of was another voice entirely, one statement, two words. _Caroline deleted._


	6. Breakaway

Wheatley had always sort of told himself he'd be able to go home one day. He knew it was almost impossible, but he always sort of imagined that something would knock him out of orbit- a meteor, or something- and he would fall to earth. Miraculously land near Aperture, undamaged, and get picked up by a certain human. Be able to _apologise_, be forgiven. And, well, the fantasies went a lot further than that. But he didn't bother remember every detail. Not at the moment.

Because this was the moment before he realised that that was never going to happen. The moment before his optic blinked open for a moment and he realised that it had been long enough for her to be dead. And that he was slowly drifting, who-knows-where, in space, and there was absolutely nothing but Spacey the Space Core- Wheatley didn't even care that that wasn't his name. When he opened his optic there would be nothing but him gabbling about everything and it was literally everything because there was nothing but space and there was no spot of hope no matter what he thought and maybe there had been nothing but space, maybe he was just confused and insane and-and Earth didn't even exist. Yes, when he opened his optic it wasn't going to be there. There was only going to be the bottomless terrifying space. All around him. Forever.

He may as well get used to it, he decided. Yes, he was going to open his optic right now, in a moment, take a deep simulated breath, try to summon up how Spacey's influence had felt when they were attached. _I love space. _One more moment-

It was still no good. He still couldn't keep himself from staring fixedly at the Earth and screaming out his guilt to dead void _yet again_, for what was the 124th time but may as well have been the billionth for all he cared.

He couldn't even remember what her name was, but he missed her, badly. The one tie he hadn't found a way to break.


	7. Heaven

"Hey, you. Chell? I just realised something." Wheatley looked up, into the test subjects eyes. She showed no reaction, but it didn't bother him.

"Weeell- I was thinking, just now, I was thinking, that-" He blinked, uncertain, and twisted in her grip. "Android Hell is a place. We know- well, _I _know," and just a little condescending, "I don't know whether _you _know- but it's definitely a place. They told me that, first thing."

He looked down, and probably would have bitten his lip lightly if he had one. "But they never mentioned anything about… Android Heaven. Or even- Android _Purgatory_. Not once. Only ever Android Hell."

He closed his optic for a moment, as if taking a breath. "Does that mean that Android Hell is the… _only _place I could go? And it doesn't even matter if I'm good? Surely they'd have mentioned it if those other places existed, right? And I don't… want…"

She continued, as efficient as ever, moving in a more robotic way than he was. But she held him a little more carefully. And she stroked him, comfortingly, just once.

He looked up again, recovering quickly. "I guess that's one more reason not to die any time soon, huh? But I can't help thinking that it's useless to even _try_. I mean, if I'm going to Android Hell anyway, then why even bother with… self-sacrifice? I'd still be punished, no matter what I did. And I'd have spent my whole life doing my best for _everyone_, and I'd still be _punished_! At least the other way, it'd be fair."

Her grip tightened again. He wasn't sure why.


End file.
